Saving Lou
by distrahere
Summary: So what if Kyle and Ian had a sister? Lou has an unusual story that gives her a unique perspective when Jeb finds Wanda/Melanie. OC/MULTI-CHAPTER.


_I was running. My bare feet clumped on the flat roof. I didn't have time to check where I was yet, they were too close. But I think I was gaining. Just. Even before the parasites came I had been good at running. I was on the school track team. I always won. But this time, and the only time that it had ever really mattered, it looked like I was going to lose. It wasn't a fair race. I was underfed, tired and hadn't had a good night's sleep since Kyle and Ian left to do a supply run. The people, if you could use that word to describe them any more, that I was running from were adults, they were well fed and fresh from a night in a warm and comfortable bed. I could hear their footsteps, they were so close. For one tiny moment I considered stopping, it wouldn't hurt that much would it? But then I thought of my brothers, Kyle and Ian, if they got me then they would find out about them. And for that reason I kept going._

_I did have some advantages. I knew the area. I'd been living in Las Vegas for longer than the parasites had been on this planet. And they were soft, their bodies weren't required to run on a regular basis. Last night when they had been tucked up in bed, I had been running along the roofs of what used to be the Blue Sector. Not that it was anything like it used to be. Half of the buildings had been "moderated" and after dark the streets were empty. Apart from me and my personal team of seekers of course. _

_And I was nearly at my destination, the only plan that had managed to get through the barrier of adrenaline that was racing through my veins. I had to get there before they could see me. Round this corner and I should find- yes – a concealed ladder down the side of the building. I was over and clinging to it as the footsteps ran past me. All was silent again. I waited. In the distance I could hear their shouts of confusion and frustration. Another feeling broke through the adrenaline and panic. Satisfaction. I smiled and looked over my shoulder. The smile fell from my face. The ladder only went half way down the side of the building. Shit. They'd come back looking for me, I was sure of it. I took a deep breath, and let go._

Lou awoke with a start, her hands immediately reaching to the side and grasping the handle of an old hunting knife. But the room was silent, apart from Lily's hesitant snores. She was cold. She stirred and realised that she had rolled off her matress onto the stone floor, again. She blinked, her eyes only just adjusting to the low light and sat up. She judged by the light that she couldn't have been asleep for more than 2 hours. Slowly, she put the hunting knife down and stood up, taking care to keep quiet, not wanting to wake Lily or Heidi. She took a candle from the pile at the door and lit it with a match. She needed a walk to clear her head from the echo's of the past.

Lou made her way to her hollow in the wall and blew out the candle, not wanting to waste the precious light. She crossed her legs, finding the space oddly comfortable, and closed her eyes, hoping that her mind might drift into the throes of sleep. Not such luck, and then footsteps interrupted her wandering thoughts. A torchlight hovered midair, moving towards her. A familiar voice, "Louise, is that you?"

Louise replied, "What are you doing wandering the caves a night Jebidiah?"

Jeb's appeared, illuminated, as the torchlight was pointed upwards, "I could ask you the same question, seeing that them caves are mine? I couldn't sleep."

Lou shrugged, "Same as me then."

Jeb's tone was sympathetic, "Still having trouble?"

"Always."

"Spoken to the Doc about it?"

"If we weren't living in a cave underground he'd prescribe me sleeping tablets, possibly antidepressants... But we are living in a cave underground so moot point."

"Why you sad Lou-Lou?"

"I miss people. But most of all I miss being up there. I miss the feeling of the wind in my hair and the sun on my back and the freedom... I miss the freedom a lot. It's so, helpless, so pointless down here. That's why I go on the raids, I hate them really especially when we bring back- I hate that too. I hate what we've become, what they've done to us..." Lou paused, her eyes had gained a faraway look and Jeb could tell that she was thinking of something else, someone else, somewhere else. And then she blinked, "But this is better than nothing, better than loosing. And I can live with that."

Jeb considered all that Lou had said for a while, thinking over what the young girl was saying, "Why you sitting in the dark anyway?"

Lou held up her candle, "Don't want to waste the light." And then she smiled, "And I forgot to bring matches."

Jeb held up his torch, "You could get one of these. It's rechargeable and everything."

Lou shrugged, "Maybe next time we go raiding."

"You want me to walk me back to your room?"

Lou slid down from her perch in the wall and towards the face in the light, linking her arm through Jeb's, "Yeah, why not?"

_In the back of her mind she could still hear her feet running across that roof. _


End file.
